Suffragette with banner, Washington DC, 1918

The title of suffragette was given to members of the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom and United States, particularly in the years prior to World War I. It is a name often associated with the followers of Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women's Social and Political Union (founded in 1903).

The term tends to connote acts of defiance, protest, self-sacrifice and sometimes violence. Suffragettes carried out such minor offences as chaining themselves to railings and setting fire to the contents of mailboxes. One suffragette, Emily Davison, died after she stepped out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby of 1913. Many of her fellow suffragettes were imprisoned and went on hunger strikes, during which they were restrained and forcibly fed. The so-called Cat and Mouse Act was passed by the government in an attempt to prevent suffragettes from obtaining public sympathy - it provided for releasing those whose condition got too serious then re-imprisoning them when they had recovered.

Nevertheless, protests continued on both sides of the Atlantic. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns led a series of protests against the Wilson Administration in Washington that referred to "Kaiser Wilson" and compared the plight of the German people with that of American women (see picture).

During World War I a serious shortage of men ("manpower") occurred, and women were required to take on many of the traditional male roles. This led to a new view of what a woman was capable of doing. Political movement towards women's suffrage began during the war and in 1919 Parliament passed an act granting the vote to women over the age of 30 who were householders; the wives of householders; occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5; or graduates of British universities. The right of American women to vote was codified in the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Women in United Kingdom got the vote on the same terms as men in 1928.

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics
• New Woman
• Woman suffrage
• Anti-Suffrage League